This week on BBC Radio’s Healthcheck, I shared thoughts on new research showing that oral healthcare before surgery can cut hospital stay & lower pneumonia risk. Should oral healthcare be part of standard pre-op care? 🎧 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Canadian Journal of Pain special issue: "Social and health inequities in chronic pain across the lifespan." Members of our partnership, including @fionawebster1.bsky.social, are co-editors. Check out the collection, including their insightful editorial, here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/ucjp20/8/2

A friend feels the same about people as I do about sitting. She gets easily "peopled out", and needa a solitary break. So whether it is spoons, sits, or people, life comes with a cost for many of us. We can do it, but we have limits, which are more pressing than most people's [5/5].

For far too long, racialised communities and people seeking safety from torture and war have been scapegoated by politicians who have failed to deal with the social and economic hardships that we are all living through. What we saw this weekend is the result of this.

Springboard awardee, Dr Sam Hughes, has found that exposure to virtual reality nature scenes can help relieve symptoms for those living with chronic pain.

👇 Read more via @exeter.ac.uk: ow.ly/EnAh50WwEqz

👉 Learn more about our Springboard funding: ow.ly/BQqN50WwEhF

I spent a little time on the underlying data and playing with the interface.

This is what data viz can do when it is guided by theory — in this case a clear position on “authoritarianism”, not just a “snapshot” that leaves the sense making to the reader.

www.trumpactiontracker.info?

Professor Fiona Webster @fionawebster1.bsky.social is PEPR's Director and Principal Investigator. PEPR was founded in 2022 as a result of receiving a $2.4 million SSHRC Partnership grant, entitled Toward Democratization of Health: A Sociological Exploration of #PatientEngagement in #PainResearch.

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.

Stop using WeTransfer.

New article in Social Theory & Health, co-authored with
@judegreen.bsky.social, open access.

In a nutshell we argue that that lived-experience research is not the same as qualitative sociology in health research. The difference exists and matters.

Read here: rdcu.be/evZ7F

Scoping review highlighting lack of #rehabilitation research in POEMS syndrome,
Led by NHNN physio Lucy Johnson, published in @clinicalrehab.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

@uclh.bsky.social @gitaramdharry.bsky.social @jackiewalumbe.bsky.social

Behaviour change is often overrated as the ultimate solution to improve health because without social, economic & structural environments that facilitate rather than obstruct healthy choices, behaviour change remains a privilege reserved for those who have the resources to remove the obstructions.

Links wonderfully to this podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Much needed commentary on how macro issues like social security affect people living with long term pain. Extremely topical with the rising gap between life expectancy and healthy life years. From a pain care and rehab perspective, this is foundational.

'People living with long-term pain and illness need social security' - blog for Pain Concern from my perspectives as a physiotherapist & researcher (also contains a link to the ScotGov consultation on social security): painconcern.org.uk/social-secur...

Such ace discussions #CampDigital about digital accessibility, a reminder to consider poverty as a form of digital exclusion, latest report here: www.goodthingsfoundation.org/policy-and-r... lots for folks who design digital tools and services to consider!

“There is something very social about pain.”

In the penultimate episode of Season 8 of the We Society podcast, @tomshakespeare.bsky.social of @lshtm.bsky.social joins Will Hutton to discuss his research into the link between social science and disability.

➡️ podfollow.com/the-we-society

In a post-truth world, can we always trust the facts presented to us in statistics and research? In this 10-Minute Talk, Alex Edmans FBA explores how we can combat misinformation based on his book ‘May Contain Lies. Watch the full video here: buff.ly/MeR5nJZ

⏰ New BMJ Editorial ⏰ from me, Drs Lucinda Hiam & Eleanor Barry bmj.com/cgi/content/...

Ahead of the NHS 10-yr plan, we ask what a digital first strategy means for the NHS's commitment to "being for everyone," highlighting:

1. Digital Exclusion
2. Entrenched bias
3. Austerity & the SDoH

A singular focus on single curative pathways denies the reality of many individuals who often have multiple coincident health needs. Change the mindset and we improve outcomes.

New paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Took my kid to urgent care this morning and was asked for permission to use an “AI scribe.” I’ve declined multiple times for myself because, as a data scientist (and, like, a person observing the political economy of AI), I have grave concerns. Today I relented, and not for lack of concern 🧵 1/

I wrote this essay to show that the types of biological racism and neoliberal apologia that Slobodian finds among explicit advocates for neoliberalism are prevalent among evolutionary biologists: olrsupplement.com/2025/05/19/g... (Thread)

Maybe check the inclusion criteria? Tried to complete but excluded as do not deliver CR training after stroke or TIA.

Off to add a bit more incalculable damage to this here island of strangers